


Invasion of the Party Crashers

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Pet Sounds [9]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alternate Universe, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-23
Updated: 2012-12-23
Packaged: 2017-11-22 02:01:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/604594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“This place is starting to feel like home.  I don’t want to have to hide out in the house forever because I've done something stupid.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Invasion of the Party Crashers

“Hey you guys, check it out.” Penelope came bounding across the street, down the sidewalk, and into the Doctor Lady’s backyard. JJ was hanging out with Spencer on the side deck. Penelope rushed up the steps, slightly out of breath but excited. “Check it out!”

“What are we checking out?” the beagle pup asked.

“You're checking out my outfit Spencer, duh! I have a new outfit; check it out.”

Penelope twirled around singing a song that basically consisted of a bunch of la la las. She felt like Miss America with her new clothes. Today she wore a pink shirt with a matching tutu. Penelope was really in love with the tutu. JJ just smiled at her best friend’s display.

“It’s awesome Penelope.” She said.

“Thank you. I got three new outfits and I love them all. I’ll show them to you guys one at a time but me and Jessie had a fashion show last night. She's the best human mommy ever! No offense to the doctor lady, JJ.”

“None taken.” 

“I don’t understand.” Spencer made a funny face. “Is this a cat thing?”

“Is what a cat thing, Spencer?” JJ asked.

“She's wearing clothes.” He used his paw to point at Penelope.

“Word around the cul-de-sac is that you're a genius or something.” Penelope said. “I'm not seeing that at the moment.”

“Cats don’t wear clothes. I mean, I guess they don’t. JJ is a cat and she never wears clothes. Humans wear clothes but cats do not.”

“Super awesome cats like me do.” Penelope replied.

“So this is normal?” Spencer asked.

“We don’t often put Penelope and normal in the same sentence.” JJ said giggling.

“What she said.” Penelope pointed at the orange tabby. “Jessie doesn’t want to buy baby clothes yet. She doesn’t want to tempt the wrath of the whatever. So to stop herself she buys little things for me. I love them.” she twirled again to show off the tutu.

“Oh, OK.”

Spencer still didn’t get it but he got it. Cats wearing clothes weren't normal. Penelope Garcia wasn’t normal. And she was a cat who wore clothes. It wasn’t really an answer but it was happening right before his eyes so he couldn’t deny it. Penelope seemed to be enjoying herself so he wouldn’t knock it. The tutu was bright pink and pretty.

“So what are you doing today Penelope?” JJ asked. “Spencer and I are just hanging out for a while before he goes for his afternoon run.”

“Well I was thinking of just napping and watching a movie after dinner but I wanna show everybody my outfit now. So, maybe I'll go for a walk. Wanna go with me?”

“Sure, if you wanna hang out until Spencer leaves. Maybe we can stop by Will’s place.”

“Oh sure, as if he's gonna pay any attention to my outfit with you around.” Penelope rolled her eyes but her tone was playful.

“We’re just friends!” JJ exclaimed.

“He wants to mate with you.”

“I can't mate anymore.”

“He wants to test that theory, as Gideon says.”

“What does she mean?” Spencer asked.

“Nothing, Spencer.” JJ shook her head.

“Oh c'mon, everybody knows Will likes JJ the most. The whole neighborhood knows.”

“I didn’t know.” Reid mumbled.

“Penelope…stop.” JJ said.

“OK, OK. Lets celebrate my outfit some more.”

“Who wants to help me crash a party tonight?” Elle came out of the sliding glass door but stopped when she saw Penelope. “What are you wearing?”

“I got a tutu.” There was more twirling for effect.

“I see that.” Elle nodded.

“Do you like it Elle?”

“It’s so very you.” the grey cat replied with a smirk.

“I know right.” Penelope grinned. “What did you say about a party?”

“I'm gonna crash that party at the park tonight. Do you guys wanna help?”

“Morgan said I can't go…cats aren’t invited.”

“Morgan is not the boss of you, Penelope. And I’ll have you know that saying a party is for dogs only is discrimination. The Constitution protects us against that.”

“I don’t think the Constitution protects cats and dogs.” Spencer said.

“Hey, we’re Americans aren’t we?” Elle asked. “All Americans are protected under the Constitution. The Supreme Court said so…and I saw it on TV.”

“There could be 20 dogs in the park.” JJ said. “How are we going to crash the party?”

“We have an ace in the hole. We have Spencer Reid.”

“Oh no.” Spencer shook his head. “I'm not doing anything.”

“You don’t even know what I'm going to ask.” Elle said. 

“I don’t care; I'm not doing it. I'm a dog, Elle. I have to have allegiance to the other dogs. You don’t have to crash the party…you can just have your own or something.”

“I'm crashing the party. But fine, don’t help. I wouldn’t want Rossi to be mad at you.”

Spencer wanted to say that it wasn’t just about Rossi being mad but he didn’t bother. When Elle got an idea in her head she just ran with it. If she wanted to crash that party then she would. She wasn’t a bad cat, Elle just wanted to do what she wanted. She liked having fun. She especially liked having fun doing things she wasn’t supposed to be doing.

“I'm not really allowed out after dark so I can't help.” Penelope said.

“Oh c'mon, this is gonna be fun.” Elle said. “The humans are all into their own stuff after dark…they won't notice you're gone. Don’t you wonder what goes on down there when they keep us out?”

“Well yeah, sure.” the tabby nodded.

“Then come with me tonight and you'll find out. Are you in JJ?”

“As long as I don’t get eaten, I'm in.”

“They’ll have to catch us to eat us.” Elle grinned. “What time is the party, Spencer?”

“I'm not entirely sure.”

“You're lying to me.”

“I'm not!” he exclaimed. “I'm not even going…how should I know when it is? They like the moon to be high in the sky, which it is at about 10 o’clock. That’s all I'm saying.”

“That’s enough. Thanks Reid.”

“I don’t know what you're thanking me for. I have said nothing to you about anything.”

“OK, whatever.” Elle rolled her eyes. “Ladies, tonight we party. Penelope if you want to be part of it then meet us over here at quarter to ten.”

“I can't tell time.” Penelope said.

“I’ll come to the side door at your house.” JJ said. “If you want to go then we’ll go.”

“OK JJ.”

“I have to go; its lunchtime.” Spencer said. “Um, bye JJ.”

“See you later Spencer.” She waved at him. “Maybe we can hang out tomorrow. We can look at clouds and tell each other what they look like.”

“Um maybe.” he sounded unsure. “I might have other stuff to do.”

“OK, well you know where to find me.”

“Yeah. OK, bye.” 

The puppy started to run away and almost ran over Emily. She screeched, realized it was Spencer, and lowered her attack stance. He was instantly apologetic.

“It’s OK, Spencer.” She petted his chest. “Just make sure you look where you're going. The streets can be busy.”

“I see that now. Bye Emily.”

“See ya.” She watched Spencer go before walking toward the three cats hanging out on the deck. “Hey guys.”

“Hey Emily.” They said in unison.

“Wanna crash a party with us later?” Elle said.

“Sure.” the black cat nodded.

“I think I like you.” Elle said. “You don’t ask a lot of questions.”

“Don’t let the quick affirmative fool you.” Emily replied. “I just like parties.”

Elle nodded, smiling and going back into the house.

“Do you like my outfit, Emily?” Penelope asked. She twirled again for effect.

“It’s cool. I didn’t know you had clothes.”

“I didn’t use to but Jessie went shopping for me. We had a fashion show. JJ, I'm hungry so I think I'm gonna have second lunch, a little nap, and then we’ll go out and show off my outfit. OK?”

“That sounds good to me.” JJ nodded.

“I’ll be back. Bye JJ; bye Emily!”

“Bye Penelope. Tell Gideon that I said hello.”

“You should come over and see him. You should probably hug him again too. He smiled for days after that first one. He would just be lying in the kitty condo asleep with this dumb grin on his face. It was kinda cool.”

“What?” Emily looked as if she didn’t know what Penelope was talking about.

“I know you two are something special. You can't fool me.”

“We’re just friends…honestly. He's my friend just like you are.”

“Mmm hmm.” Penelope grinned. “I don’t believe you. But I’ll be sure to tell him what you said.”

“Thank you.”

Penelope trotted across the yard, singing to herself as her tutu flounced around her. Emily couldn’t help but smile as she watched her go. Then she turned to JJ.

“What are you up to?” Emily asked.

“Nothing much, just hanging out. Penelope and I were going to go out and show off her outfit but now not so much. Wanna hang?”

“Actually I want to talk to you.”

“What's up?” JJ asked.

“Maybe I wasn’t exactly completely oblivious to what Penelope was talking about when she said something about Gideon.” Emily said.

“Ooh…sit, sit, sit.” JJ sat down on her feet. “Whatever you need to get off your chest I'm here to listen.”

“And I can talk to you in confidence?” Emily asked as she sat too.

“Of course. Penelope is my best friend and we talk about a lot but I would never break your confidence. I know how difficult it can be when you have something weighing on you. You just need someone to talk to and I'm here.”

“That was quite impassioned.”

“I mean it.” JJ smiled.

“Well I think the real problem is I don’t know how I feel. I surely don’t know how he feels and don’t want to make a fool of myself. This place is starting to feel like home. I don’t want to have to hide out in the house forever because I've done something stupid.”

“There's nothing stupid about falling in love. OK, nevermind, it can be kinda stupid sometimes.”

“Oh my God,” Emily covered her eyes with her paw. “I hope you don’t think this is helping.”

“You're going to be fine Emily; you're gonna get through this. New, awesome, good things are happening for you and this is just one of them. So much more is to come.”

Emily didn’t know how to be that optimistic like her new friends. She’d had some good things in her life; there was no point in denying that. But so much of her memory was filled with loss and darkness. She wanted to make this new place McLean something to evoke happy memories. 

She wanted to grow close to these other cats, and maybe even a few dogs and humans too. She wanted to love and be loved in return. Emily just didn’t want to be hurt anymore. But if you lived life that could never be promised.

***


End file.
